When we do something wrong or make poor choices, usually one of the loudest voices telling us this is our own. It’s a good thing, to be able to remind yourself that you could make better choices, but when this morphs into constantly berating yourself or tearing yourself down, it can be extremely unhealthy. Even if you’ve never struggled with addiction, constantly beating yourself up over simple mistakes or things that may not really matter can severely impact how you see yourself, and the more negatively you treat yourself, the more likely you are to develop unhealthy behaviors to cope with how you feel. It’s a twisted cycle that can either continue to get worse, or change for the better.
But how? How can you give yourself a break, after all the choices you’ve made or things you’ve done wrong? This is the time to tighten the leash, not let it out, right? Wrong!
Nobody is perfect. We’d like to think otherwise, but everyone on this planet will do something they regret, or do something wrong to someone else, or any number of things. While it’s always important to keep yourself in check and work to correct the habits and choices that may be dragging you down, it’s also important to remember that your shortcomings, whatever they may be, do not define you. When you’re old and gray and looking back at your life, do you really want to only remember the times you didn’t quite do the right thing? Or how miserable you felt? Of course not.
Always work to improve yourself, no matter what. Always reach for a better position at work, always work for a healthier lifestyle, always continue to move forward in life. Sometimes, this means taking a hard look at some poor choices you’ve made. What this doesn’t mean is continually guilting yourself over them. Grow from them, and then let them go. If you don’t give yourself a break, who else will?
If you’re battling an addiction to drugs or alcohol currently, you don’t have to be ashamed, and you don’t have to constantly remind yourself of what you’ve done wrong. There IS help out there, all you have to do is take the first step and reach out. The Springboard Center can help you change your way of thinking during the inpatient or outpatient treatment programs they offer that are tailored to what YOU need, not what fits most. Don’t let addiction control you another day, make the call today: 432-620-0255
